I think you've invented quite a backstory about him being marginalised, but consider that when he left Bell labs he got offered a wage 17% short of a US congres

I think you've invented quite a backstory about him being marginalised, but consider that when he left Bell labs he got offered a wage 17% short of a US congressman or the top 3% of engineer or "natural scientists" wages. This is not the pay for someone whose work is being dismissed. My point was that actually he was mainly a physicist that simply started by studying engineering.